


Holding The Fort

by DGCatAniSiri



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21956488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGCatAniSiri/pseuds/DGCatAniSiri
Summary: Ryan worries about Carter as he travels to fight the Machine Empire with the other Red Rangers
Relationships: Carter Grayson/Ryan Mitchell
Kudos: 22





	Holding The Fort

**Author's Note:**

> Follows "[Crossing the River](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6072699/chapters/13918452)" and "[Make Me Feel Human](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218442)," with a couple of references to those events, but is mostly standalone.

The last thing that Ryan wanted was to be separated from Carter, given the circumstances.

Even though it had been nearly two years since the defeat of Bansheera’s forces, it seemed like Lightspeed Rescue had only become more busy since then. Apparently, there was a sign on the back of the moon that said ‘vacancy.’ Lots of little incursions from evil space aliens, individuals rather than organized invasions, but still enough to need any Power Ranger to still be ready to pick the morpher back up.

Miss Fairweather – Angela, the Lightspeed Rangers were finally getting used to using her first name at least on occasion – had held frequent conversations with humanity’s foremost expert on the Morphing Grid, Billy Cranston, and started work on trying to reconnect some of the non-functional powers of previous Rangers. Lightspeed Rescue, especially once a proper alliance had been established with the Silver Guardians, had become the foremost organization of keeping the Power Rangers empowered.

That was why, when Andros, the Red Space Ranger, had come to Earth with concerns of the remnants of the Machine Empire coming back together, and specifically looking for Serpentera, she’d rallied the troops and made a call to as many previous Rangers as she could get in touch with. 

Obviously, Lightspeed Rescue had been called in first. Not every Ranger had been immediately able to answer – some had been building their own lives, having families, and weren’t able to be on the front line of planetary defense at a moment’s notice. No Power Ranger would refuse to be on call when needed, but some had more dependents to protect that they weren’t needed to take up the first line.

It quickly became apparent that the majority of the Red Rangers felt ready to take up the call – Andros and Carter had, obviously, been ready at the start. TJ, Wes, and Eric had joined in as well. Then, of course, there had been the contact with Tommy Oliver.

Ryan didn’t have the personal familiarity with the legend of Tommy Oliver, having been in Diabolico’s “care” at the time Tommy had made his mark as a Power Ranger. But he could tell that the other Rangers were all impressed about him, given his length of service as an active Power Ranger, which was enough for him to deserve the respect. Ryan had made a note to ask Carter to explain more about him after the crisis.

Tommy was the one who decided that the Red Rangers should take the fight to the Machines, have the other Rangers gear up for a fight with the behemoth – if the strike team on the moon failed, they’d need as many Rangers back on Earth ready to fight, especially since there were only so many Zords in service. Even Lightspeed could only rebuild destroyed Zords so fast. 

Carter had gone to Turtle Cove in order to pick up the Red Wild Force Ranger, and offer his teammates a briefing on what to expect as the second line of defense. 

That meant, though, that Ryan was left behind. Worse, he had no way of knowing how things were going for Carter. 

Because the potential points of invasion if the Machine generals were able to get control of Serpentera could be just about anywhere, the Ranger teams on Earth were gearing up as best as possible. The Wild Force Rangers were handling things in Turtle Cove, while the “old guard,” the Rangers who’d actually fought against Serpentera before, had gone to Angel Grove, considering it the likely place where the Empire would land. But really, they had no idea where they’d have to defend. 

That was why Miss Fairweather had the Lightspeed systems monitoring Earth’s airspace. With the Morphing Grid, they should be able to teleport to where they were needed.

The bigger question, of course, was how to do anything about it. Calling them fleas in the face of a monstrosity like Serpentera was underselling the outmatch. Most of the remaining Rangers didn’t even have Megazords anymore, and the behemoth black dragon Zord would have dwarfed them anyway. Ryan had no idea what they were supposed to do against it. With luck, they wouldn’t have to find out at any point, that the Red Ranger strike team would be able to prevent the Machine Empire from bringing Serpentera back online.

“Who even left that thing lying around, anyway?” Joel had demanded during the briefing on the subject.

“Lord Zedd,” had been Tommy Oliver’s reply. That had silenced the Green Lightspeed Ranger’s complaint, knowing that there really was nothing to counter that.

As time dragged on, Ryan had found himself having to leave the command hub of the rebuilt Aquabase, where his father and Miss Fairweather, remotely connected to Mister Collins and the Silver Guardians, as well as the other Rangers, were coordinated all the preparations for the worst.

It was all about the waiting now.

Ryan had never been good at waiting.

It was night in Mariner Bay. Ryan stared up to the moon, wondering how things were going up there.

He worried for Carter. 

Not that Carter wasn’t capable. The man still volunteered with the Mariner Bay first responders, and didn’t even morph most of the times he ran into burning buildings. It wasn’t like he was any stranger to dangerous missions. 

But it had been a long time since Ryan hadn’t been nearby, watching his back.

“Ryan?” Dana’s voice made him turn away from staring up at the moon. She smiled at him, trying to put him at ease. “You know he’s going to be fine, right?”

There were no guarantees in this fight. A Power Ranger always risked dying in battle. It was something of the standard state of affairs. Given the narrow escapes they’d had over the years, every Ranger probably had a running tally of the times they’d nearly lost their lives in the process of trying to defend the world, knew how many times a slower reaction would have been their death. There was always that Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. But Carter was still in his prime, and he had as his backup a group of veteran Rangers, all of them leaders in their own rights. If any team was a solid backup for a Red Ranger, it was that one.

But...

“It’s not that I don’t trust the others with him,” Ryan admitted. 

Dana nodded, able to understand exactly what bothered him. “But you wish you were there with him.”

“I understand why it was Red Rangers only.” Lightspeed was the only team of Power Rangers (to date) where it was more than the Red Ranger representative on the mission who had some advanced form, the Battleizer, as Andros called his, that seemed to be a standard piece of equipment these days. Eric may not have exactly been a Red Ranger in the traditional sense, but his upgrade had made him a worthwhile addition to that team. It might not be all of the Red Rangers, but it was enough to make them a reasonable front line. The fact that Joel and Chad had their own was part of why (beyond simple resources) Lightspeed Rescue had been taking charge of the second line of defense.

“But it doesn’t change how you wish you were with him right now anyway.” Dana placed a comforting hand on her brother’s arm, offering him a supportive smile. “It’s Carter Greyson. You know you wouldn’t have kept him from going if you’d tried. And he knew you were capable of leading us with him out there.”

Right. Because Ryan had been at Carter’s side so often over the last year, since the fight with Vypra in Silver Hills, Carter had officially made Ryan the field leader in his absence. It was a responsibility Ryan was gladly willing to shoulder, it spoke to Carter’s trust in him, having him take charge in his absence. But he still regretted not being there, personally watching his back.

“It’s not like I don’t trust the other Red Rangers.” There was a certain quality that drew people to be selected as Power Rangers, and the Red Ranger specifically. Even acknowledging that some Rangers were content to walk away from the life if given the chance, those who’d worn the Red Ranger uniform were a breed apart. Even Rocky DeSantos, who’d been a different kind of Red Ranger, the second in command of his team during his time in the Red uniform, had stepped up, was acting as the go-between and Ranger representative to the greater government elements who would be dealing with the fallout if Serpentera left the surface of the moon. “I just... I don’t know what I’d do if... if anything happened to him without me.”

Now Dana pulled her brother into a hug. “He’ll be back, Ryan. You’re worried, and it’s understandable. You love him, and you can’t be with him. But he’s going to make it through this, and you’ll tell yourself when you look back on now that you were being silly, thinking for even a second that anything would happen to him. You’ll see.”

Ryan hoped she was right. There was every reason to believe she was. Power Rangers had been doing this for a good ten years now, on Earth alone – Andros and Aurico were evidence of Rangers on other worlds, along with the involvement of Time Force’s alien member, Trip (even if he was from the future), and the Lost Galaxy Rangers out at the Terra Venture colony on Mirinoi. There was a long history of Power Rangers surviving impossible odds. 

He had been telling himself these things for a while now. Repeatedly and in various ways. It didn’t shut up that voice in the back of his mind, telling him that he wouldn’t know until they heard, and until then... 

He was going to worry.

And Dana recognized it. “You’re still worried.”

“Wouldn’t you be?”

“I certainly am, though not like you.” She offered him a smile. “He’ll be fine. He’ll be home soon.”

“If you’re so sure, why are we doing all this preparation?” Ryan asked. He knew the answer – they needed to be ready for the worst case. Despite all their words about being certain that he would make it back... There was always the possibility. 

And if something did happen... Ryan didn’t know what he’d do. He’d found something that held him to this life among humanity, something beyond his father and his sister. If he lost Carter, if he lost the man he loved... 

He hadn’t broken when he broke free from the lifetime of abusive treatment he’d suffered at the demons’ hands. He hadn’t broken when Diabolico had branded that snake tattoo on his back. He hadn’t broken in Vanthiku’s realm.

But the idea of losing Carter...

“Is this really what being in love is?” he murmured, not addressing the comment to his sister, more to the universe at large. “There’s been so much hurt and pain, and... Is this what being in love is like? Always... afraid that something will happen?”

“That’s not what it is, Ryan.” Dana made Ryan look her in the eye, getting firmly into ‘if you don’t listen to me, I will kick your sorry ass’ mode – the state where no one with any sense would go against what she was saying. “You may not remember it, but when our mom died... Dad struggled to recover. It didn’t help that it wasn’t long after that... we lost you. But... Dad kept going. He didn’t just do it because I needed a father. He was honoring her. Because she wouldn’t want him to go the pieces because of her loss. Because she’d known as much as he did that there was plenty out there that needed him to be there for – me, Lightspeed... Hopefully you again, one day. Loss is part of being human. But so is love. It’s impossible to appreciate one without the other. It’s part of what we fought the demons to be able to do. It’s hard, but... If you walk away from it, what have we even fought all this time for?”

Ryan took a deep breath, trying to take her words to heart. She wasn’t wrong, he knew. Carter would be the type to tell Ryan that he should keep going if anything happened to him. He knew better, he really did.

He just hadn’t had to truly worry about risking losing Carter like this before, not since they’d admitted how they felt about one another. 

“I can’t argue with that. Just...”

Now she rolled her eyes. “It still doesn’t help.” She gave him an affectionate smile. “You’re officially hopeless, my dear brother.” It sounded like she was calling the conversation done, and Ryan couldn’t blame her. They’d effectively talked in circles in order to end up right back where they were at the start.

Though, truthfully... It had been good to talk. At least he’d been able to express it. And, with some luck, they’d have an answer soon.

***

Ryan didn’t sleep, waiting for any message from the moon, from the Megaship... He needed to stay awake – even if he wasn’t waiting on a message from Carter, they needed to know if Serpentera was coming. 

Then the sensors detected a massive explosion. It held a signature that had some connection to the Morphing Grid, indicating that something related to the Power Rangers who’d gone there had been involved.

Ryan had never been prone to prayer. He still had to hope that it had been the actions of the strike team, their destruction of Serpentera, and not the Megaship. 

Then, finally, the message came. The group of Red Rangers appeared on the screen of the situation room in the Aquabase, all of them answering several questions, before Andros announced the Megaship would be landing at the NASADA base. Carter made a promise to write up a report – he was the only one of them who was even remotely connected to a military structure, so he was used to the paperwork side of matters.

Carter lingered on the screen, even as the others in the situation room dismissed themselves. Even if any of the others had remained, there’d been a determined look in Dana’s eyes – she was going to give her brother and his lover this moment.

Once the rooms on both ends of the communication were cleared, aside from the two of them, Carter and Ryan both broke into big grins. “You’re okay,” Ryan said, relief flooding him.

“ _I am._ ” No joke about how ‘of course’ he was going to make it out safely. It spoke to how dangerous the mission had truly been. “ _I’ll be home soon._ ”

Home. Home was Mariner Bay, an apartment close to the center of town. A place that Carter had called home longer than Ryan... But they’d been making it theirs.

“You’d better.” Ryan wanted nothing more than to hold Carter in his arms again. He’d have to wait, but he knew it would happen. “And you’re not doing anything like this without me again, understand?”

Carter just laughed, not about to argue that. “ _Would’ve been happy to have you with me this time. With some luck, though, we’re fresh out of super Zords and Machine Empires._ ” The Megaship shuddered around him, causing Carter to look away from the screen for a minute. “ _Sounds like we’ve landed. I’ll see you soon._ ” With that, the screen went dark.

The weight on Ryan’s shoulders seemed to dissolve. The man he loved would be back in his arms very soon. 

It might be a little more waiting, but he’d handled the worst of it. This little bit extra... He could handle it with no trouble.


End file.
